


XVI - The Tower

by Al_99



Series: Labyrinth [2]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Crime Family, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, Pain, Peter Tries to Help, Poison, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Scratching, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, and a rita too, back in a train, but not really, carbon monoxide poisoning, juno has a hard time, we all need a nureyev in our lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:55:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23018146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Al_99/pseuds/Al_99
Summary: “Hi, my name is Juno Steel, and you’re probably wondering how I got here.” Juno Steel points his flashlight at the wood and tries to look through the cracks. Juno is frustrated, there’s so many things wrong with this plan.It’s a long chamber with all kinds of weapons covering the walls, it reminds him of a train and he swears he can hear a hissing.
Relationships: Aurinko Crime Family & Juno Steel, Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel, Rita & Juno Steel
Series: Labyrinth [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1647028
Comments: 7
Kudos: 91





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Juno gets stuck in an aircraft and gets CO2 poisoning. This is more like a study on this and how a character (in this case Juno) deals with it. 
> 
> Hi there reader, please note the trigger warnings: poisoning, PTSD and flashbacks, self-hatred, involuntary self-harm, confined spaces. 
> 
> This is a first draft, I hope you enjoy :D

“Hi, my name is Juno Steel, and you’re probably wondering how I got here.” Juno Steel points his flashlight at the wood and tries to look through the cracks.

“Boss! This is not the best time for joking.” Rita’s slightly worried static-y voice comes from his earpiece, followed by a lot of typing.

“No, no. You’re right, what am I supposed to do in this situation? Let me remind you, I’m _literally_ locked in a crate that was supposed to be open more than 20 minutes ago and instead we’re not even sure where I’m at. My legs fell asleep like half an hour ago and I think I won't be able to stand ever again. No, Rita, it’s not a situation I would like to joke about, at all.”

“We know, we know. Just-” more typing “give me a minute, okay, Boss?” Juno grunts as he tries to position himself in a somewhat more comfortable position. He fails. “We weren’t expecting them to _lose_ our cargo-“

“Lose our cargo?!” Juno's voice cracks with indignation.

“Juno? You good?” Buddy speaks now. He can’t help but sigh in relief.

“Apart from feeling like the air is thin and being locked in a _fucking crate god-knows-where_ , yes I’m good, thank you for asking.”

“Great. We’ve found out you’re in an aircraft and we know where it’s headed, it won’t be more than ten minutes or so until it lands to the next dome. Do not make a mess, I believe Rita has warned you to be careful with the materials?”

“Which part of _in_ a crate isn’t clear at this point?” a beat “Wait, what materials?”

“Juno, you have to shoot yourself out of the crate.” He makes a questioning sound and before he can complain Buddy’s talking again “Be careful with the explosives when you shoot. You’re going to get out of that box, we’ll send Jet and Peter in the Ruby 7 to pick you up. It will make a hell lot of noise and we’ll have to leave Earth tonight, but these things sometimes happen.”

“Great, yeah. Great plan, I just stun blast a box and wait for a pick-up surrounded by... bombs?”

“Not on stun, Mistah Steel. It probably won’t break if it’s on stun.” Rita talks now to Buddy “I believe they are now aware of the call Miss Buddy-”

“Okay, we need to hang up. We’ll see you on the other side.” And the call ends. Juno is frustrated, there’s so many things wrong with this plan. He takes a second to compose himself and shifts until he can reach his blaster. He studies the crate; he actually remembers seeing it from the outside before he got in, _willingly_.

He aims to the ceiling and what he thinks is the padlock of the damn box and shoots, there’s splinters everywhere, he thinks he’ll become half tree if he gets out of this. The box hasn’t opened yet, Juno has to kick and push for a couple of minutes until he can finally get out of the box, splinters digging into his arms. When he finally gets his bearings, more breathless than he thought he would be, he studies the place. It’s a long chamber with all kinds of weapons covering the walls, it reminds him of a train. _No, not a train_ , Juno corrects himself, _the train_. 

And just like that, he’s back to that room, locked with Valentia and he can swear he hears the hissing. He collects himself; Juno can’t be panicking in the middle of a job, he’s got Vespa annoyed for the couple concussions and shots he has taken over the last few months, -hell, even his most recent wound on his arm hasn’t fully healed yet- and Buddy is annoyed at him for being a liability, he knows as much, no matter what Nureyev said.

Juno makes sure to set the blaster back to stun and walks to one end of the hall. He starts coughing when he gets there- _damn, no door here_ , and he starts to feel the aircraft going down. There must be something in the air here, maybe the altitude is doing something to him, maybe his allergies or asthma are acting up, being in a new planet and all that. He coughs his lungs out on his way to the other end of the room and hides between what looks like a less deadly weapon and some other crates. In whoever’s defense, the crates look almost identical to his. 

Juno tries to take deep breaths, recovering from the coughing fit he just had. 

He can’t breathe. This is not normal; he covers his ear and realizes it isn’t his ears that are ringing. There’s a hissing sound and he doesn’t like his odds. 

Two things happen at the same time: the aircraft touches land and an alarm activates a second after, loud enough for the people in the other dome to hear. Juno almost has a heart attack. He tries his earpiece.

“Rita?” Damn, he should have listened to Rita when she explained how this worked “Rita?!”

“Detective?” Nureyev’s voice answers in between pants, like he’s running.

“Nureyev-” the thief grunts in response “Right, Ransom- I was trying to call Rita, actually-”

“Am I not useful to you detective?”

“No, not that” he’s panting as well, though for different reasons, the air isn't reaching his lungs “you may be hearing- a hell of an alarm-”

“Yeah? Well I thought it was from my part of the call- there’s quite a lot of movement out here, Jet’s in the car trying to figure out what’s happening.”

“I think.” Juno swallows “I think- it might be because I- I might have fucked up a bomb. I think I need a ride, like- literally now.” He thinks he hears a commotion on the other end of the line between their silence, or maybe it’s out this hell of a prison. A moment passes and Juno’s panic grows. “Nureyev?!”

“Fuck. Almost there, wait a moment, dear. I’ll communicate to Jet to just get the car in here-” and the line goes silent again. Juno concentrates on breathing and not coughing and keeping his head from starting to spin. He grounds himself by meddling with the little wounds the crate made on his arm when he got out. This can’t be happening again. He doesn’t let himself think because if he does he sees he’s just killed someone, and he knows what happens next: Miasma shows up in the Ruby 7 instead, weeks of torturing- _No, Steel get your shit together_ \- _Nureyev is coming for you, Jet is coming for you, not Miasma_. Breath in. _That’s long gone_. Breath out. _You’re going to be safe_. Breath in. _She's dead._ Breath out.

The huge door unlocks, metal turns and Juno barely notices. _Breath in_. He keeps as still as he can, the room swimming under him. “Dang, this faulty piece of shit is going to be a hell lot of paperwork.” _Breath out_. Outside, tires and gunshots. “What the-? UGh.” _Breath in_. Jet gets in. 

“Juno. I believe your ride is here.” He nods to Juno, helping him up. He feels like his chest is being pressed. “We have to hurry-” They make it as fast as Juno can manage without falling on his face, Nureyev is armed with a weapon Juno hasn’t seen before, next to-. 

The sunlight is bright when they get out and the reflex on the car’s hood blinds him for a second. _Miasma is in the car_. They are going to go to that tomb. And Juno can’t deal with it right now.

“I can’t-” he gasps and tries to walk the other way, still trying to get clean air into his lungs.

“Juno?” Jet is worried, but Juno’s mind is bursting with _I will have what I want. I will have what I want. I will have what I want._

“We can’t-” he tries to breathe, but it doesn’t seem to do anything, he's suffocating. _I will have what I want. I will have what I want._ “Can’t go back-” he puts his hand to his eye and feels frozen and his legs are faltering him. Jet has seen this happen before, with Vespa, but doesn’t know how to help. Even if he wants to help, Juno doesn't notice.

“Jet! They are bringing backup!!” Ransom shouts through the gunfire.

“Juno, I’m sorry, but we _must_ leave.” What Jet does next, Juno is pretty sure, is what makes him unable to breathe all the way back to the ship. He picks him up and places him on the back seat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Earth needs domes I decided. If we go on at this rate it wouldn't be weird for earth to need domes right? Pollution and all that.


	2. Chapter 2

He’s gasping for air, he’s sure he’s choking, he’s pretty sure he’s sobbing, the world is turning around, and he’s back in the tomb, and is also in the car. When Nureyev tries to calm him, from the driver seat everything turns again, his voice brings him back there. ‘ _I will get what I want.’ ‘Next card.’ ‘Take your rest, Juno Steel. By all means_ _-_ _' Nureyev’s pained shouts…_ He has two headaches and he feels all of the tombs pain all over again. He’s gonna throw up. Outside his world there is a friendly whistle and when he actually throws up there has been a bag waiting for him, like it has been there all along.

Nureyev is afraid to speak again but he looks at Juno as much as he can without crashing the car. Juno doesn’t notice, Jet doesn't say anything about it. Jet starts speaking to him, assuring Juno that he’s alright, safe, like he's seen Buddy do once or twice. Whenever Jet tries to help, to touch him, Juno flinches back. He tells Juno – maybe more than once - he needs to put on the mask. _What mask?_ Juno looks at his right and a small face mask is placed on the seat. It’s connected to the car. Jet keeps talking, Juno hears something about ‘oxygen’ and ‘poisoning’. Now that he sees it there, discarded, he thinks he remembers Jet trying to put it on some time ago, and Juno closing in on himself, getting away from Jet's touch. _I’m so fucked_. He reaches for it, hand shaking, and puts it on. The rest of the way Juno picks on his little wounds on his arms, tries to focus on the noise the mask makes and tune out everything else. Juno rests his head on his knees. He tries not to think, he’s exhausted. The gas may have taken a lot out of him on a regular day- a regular mission, but what came just after has been even worse. He feels second-hand embarrassment for himself, no, worse, _pity_. He can’t stand what’s just happened, he can’t stand that there where _people_ around to see it, important people, not just a random concerned stranger he can forget the face of by drinking himself blind. 

His head hits the glass, knees still pulled to his chest as strongly as he can muster. It’s still hard to breathe and he can swear he still hears Miasma above the continued whistle of the mask, but it’s quieter, coming from a lifetime away. 

Juno closes his eye. His face feels damp, his clothes are wet where he leaned his head on, his head hurts, hell, his eye socket hurts as it did back then, as it did when Hanataba’s machine removed it, too. He feels like he’s gonna throw up again, even though he knows he won’t. His hand closes tight on the end of his shirt, something to grab onto, something to make the shaking stop, something to stop the world from swimming. It doesn’t work. He continues picking on his arm with his free hand.

He feels the car stop and turn off, the passenger door opens ... and closes. _Jet has gotten off_. He can’t bring himself to open his eye, he knows what awaits him: Nureyev, sick of him, or worse, _worried_ , probably about to ask something Juno won't be able to answer. 

Instead he hears (and feels) a hell lot of shuffling and then a soft hand on his own. Juno knows it’s Peter, he gathers all his strength not to flinch back. His hand moves anyways.

“Juno.” Nureyev’s soft voice- _like that night’s_ \- “We’re here, Juno.” He opens his eye “We’re home.” Peter gives Juno a weak smile and tightens his grip for a second. “Feel up to going to your room?” Juno concentrates-

“But Vespa-?” She will want to check on him. Juno would rather black out. Nureyev shakes his head slightly.

“I’ll talk to her.” Then he smirks, his tone changing. “Well, if you’re not feeling up to getting to your room on your own, Juno... I could always carry you.” And he winks.

Juno would fight this kind of request usually, make some snarky remark or something, but he barely nods and gets out of the car as soon as he’s taken off the mask. The room swims in his head, he almost falls but continues to walk anyways. Holding the wall as soon as he has it in reach. If he walks faster, he’ll be able to cry himself to sleep sooner. That, right now, sounds like the dream. He thinks he hears Rita, but he doesn’t care, he doesn’t care when she calls after him either, or when Nureyev stops her and, he supposes, explains the brief version of what happened.

She must be disappointed too. It’s not like she hasn’t seen Juno like this before, if anything, Juno trusts Rita the most out of the people in this damned ship. But it’s not like she deserves what she gets from Juno. He should be able to get out of this on his own, he’s not bothering her with his own demons again. He’s promised himself that much. After he got back from the tomb, well, he wasn’t well. And Rita was there for all of it. _All_ of it. And then he also pulled that one where he disappeared on her again...

He finally arrives to his room and sloppily opens the door. He sits himself on the bed, his clothes are soaked in cold sweat. He feels disgusting, he feels tired, he feels empty and full of self-loathing at the same time. He throws his shirt away and mindlessly scratches on his arms -they are so itchy-, trying to not go into a spiral again. Rita’s going to be so disappointed, Vespa will tell him to fuck off already, Jet must think he’s useless, Buddy too, she will kick him out for sure this time, and Nureyev… he’s so composed, he has everything figured out, he must have realised Juno is just a big fuck-up tied in a ribbon of disappointment, no layer underneath. And without realizing he’s breathing heavily again. _I deserved Miasma; I should have died there._ His nails dig into his arms.

Juno jumps when he hears a knock on the door. He can’t bring himself to answer, his hands stop but his nails dig deeper into his skin. The door opens anyways. Light fills the room when someone enters and dim again when the door closes automatically. He’s shaking, he realizes.

“Juno,” Nureyev mutters softly. Juno sees Nureyev stumble as he was thrown into their cell, skin full of red marks where he had been hurt. Nureyev steps closer and Juno can’t help but flinch, but Nureyev only turns on the bedside lamp, just enough light so they can see each other. Peter takes in a shaky breath when he looks at him. “Juno, your arms.” He looks at them, his fingers red from scratching over his wounds again and again, his arms with red trails where his nails dug. Oh, god, he’s so fucked. He doesn’t know if it’s sweat or tears anymore, but he feels a drop fall from his face.

Juno tries to speak but can’t, even if he could he doesn’t know what he’d say. Nureyev sits on the bed, far enough to not be stepping over boundaries. He puts a small bag next to him.

“Juno, can I clean your wounds?” He barely nods, and Nureyev shuffles closer and sits cross-legged on his bed in front of him. He pulls some things from the bag and asks Juno to sit closer to him, he obliges. “Juno, listen to me.” He takes a deep breath speaking barely above a whisper “Juno, back there, that wasn’t your fault, okay?" Juno isn't sure which 'back there' he's talking about "I- We’ve come through some tough things together, you and I-” Nureyev’s soft hands work on Juno’s arms and he goes on like that for some time, Juno hears his voice more than what he says, reassuring him and distracting him from the day he’s had.

It’s nice for a change, not having to think or mask how Juno feels, being able to feel numb without feeling guilty. It’s too soon when Nureyev has finished taking care of his arms. “I’m sorry” Juno mutters, almost inaudible. Nureyev holds his hands.

“Sorry for what, dear?” _For bothering you, for being a liability, for leaving you, for being me, for everything._

“For everything. I’m sorry.” Nureyev looks at him for a second, analyzing. He takes a deep breath.

“Juno, we’ve already talked about this. It’s fine, you don’t need to apologize.” But Juno feels like he does- “You don’t need to.” He insists as if he’s read his mind. “C’mon lets go to sleep, I need my beauty sleep too, dear.” Nureyev helps Juno up and helps him get ready for bed, clean clothes, clean face, warm bed. Nureyev is about to leave and Juno reaches for his hand. He doesn't look at him when he asks Nureyev to stay. He smiles and nods, they end up curled up in Juno’s bed, and Juno still feels horrible, but at least there’s an anchor beside him he knows he can trust. And he tries to sleep, everything else can wait. He can feel better tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

Nureyev wakes up _alone_ in Juno’s bed with a start. The realization doesn't have time to sink in because there’s a banging noise and he hears a gag. He runs to the bathroom to find Juno crouched in front of the toilet, Nureyev remembers Juno hasn’t eaten anything since before the mission, so he’s dry heaving, tears filling in his eyes. He does what he can to calm Juno, puts a hand on his back and tells him he’s going to be okay. Juno stays like that for a while, crying into the toilet, Nureyev feeling useless without any way to help.

Some minutes later Juno is curled up on the bathroom floor half leaning on the wall, half into Nureyev's chest. He remembers holding Juno like this in the tomb and can't help but wonder if that's what the detective is thinking about too. The later days in Miasma's captivity were particularly hard on Juno, he didn't say anything to Nureyev but he knew Juno was pushing himself further and further so he didn't get hurt. He remembers promising to Juno that things would be ‘okay’. Things were not 'okay' for the thief, in fact. And from what he has gathered, in the period in which Nureyev had nothing to do with Juno, things hadn't been okay for the detective either.

Still, Nureyev hoped. And now they are here. Nureyev thinks he's positive this way, he allows himself to hope now, not for anything in particular but for something good. He moves his fingers through Juno’s curly hair in repeated motions even long after he's calmed down. He wonders if he should bring Juno some food, maybe an excursion to the kitchen would distract him, or maybe he just wants to sleep and worry about being hungry at a more humane hour.

“Nureyev…” Juno’s voice is small but not soft, it sounds a bit hoarse too.

“Hmm?”

“Why are you here?” he doesn’t move but the tone is accusatory, as if Nureyev being here was an offense. The thief pulls apart to be able to read Juno’s face.

“What? What do you mean, dear?”

“ _Why_ are you _here_?” he repeats looking into Nureyev’s eyes “You- you should be sleeping. Hell, you should be in your room! Fuck. W- Why are you here? Why am _I_ here? You should- you shouldn’t care about me, Nureyev, you shouldn’t have to put up with my _bullshit_ , none of you should. And I screw up again and again _and again_ , and I will continue to do so because there’s no fixing me, and I know you’ll get tired of it and leave, if you aren’t already thinking about it. These people have taken me in without knowing how I really am and when I fuck up enough times they’ll just kick me out. But you know how much of a fuck-up I am- So, why _the fuck_ are you here?!”

“Shh, shh, dear, it’s okay” Juno’s already breathing rapidly, fighting off tears in his eye. Nureyev places his hands on Juno’s shoulders, softly enough that he could pull away, but he doesn’t. “Juno, because I care about you.” Nureyev's hands move to his face, they aren’t that far away so Nureyev presses his forehead to Juno’s and closes his eyes. “And I won’t leave you, Juno, I promise.” Juno sighs a shaky breath. “We can work this out, together, if you want.” This, he can help with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This last chapter is shorter (like half of the others tbh) but 1 im not in a creative or motivated mood rn and 2 i feel like adding more is unnecessary. So, short and sweet (kinda not really) :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this fic, it's a first draft so I really appreciate any tips or mistakes if you found them :D  
> I love writing this kinda thing, though this part took me so much longer than the last one of this series, i didn't know what should happen next lmao.


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